How to Use Parent Night to Leverage Your Fundraiser

One great way to motivate parents to sell.

Most sponsors wait until the kickoff presentation to announce their fundraiser. This seems to be the norm. Unfortunately, no one hears a word about it in advance. Yet some schools experience better sales results than others. Why?

One is before the kickoff because they take advantage of 3 critical periods to promote their sale. This helps build suspense and anticipation. The second is at the kickoff meeting. And the third is during the sale. This helps keep the sale strong after the initial momentum created at the kickoff.

Your parent night presents an excellent opportunity to introduce your fundraiser before the kickoff. Here are some things to think about.

Plan to Have a General Parent Meeting

Depending on the format used, many school open houses allow parents to wander independently from room to room and don’t usually meet as a large group. However, ensure you have a time when you can have everyone together for a general meeting. This allows you to present your fundraiser once to a large captive audience.

We provide a promotional video that works exceptionally well for those schools that use a big event fundraising prize program.

Discuss Your School Fundraiser Goals

This is your opportunity to sell your program to your parents. They’ll want to know how you plan to use the money. What’s involved, and how much selling will each student need to make to reach your goal?

You’ll also want to leave some time for questions and answers. Once you’ve presented your fundraiser, some parents may have questions others want answered. This gives you a chance to clear up any potential issues or concerns. Make sure you’re prepared and can anticipate what questions may come up before your parent night.

What About Incorporating Parent Rewards?

Since your parents will be doing most of the selling, it stands to reason that offering incentives might be a good idea. Your back-to-school night meeting allows you to motivate your parents just like the kickoff meeting will with your students. You may want to offer a $100 shopping spree or dinner for two for the most orders turned in.

Done correctly, your parent night meeting will only augment the effects of your student kickoff assembly.

See our brochure fundraisers.

Author Bio

Clay Boggess has been designing fundraising programs for schools and various nonprofit organizations throughout the US since 1999. He’s helped administrators, teachers, and outside support entities such as PTAs and PTOs raise millions of dollars. Clay is an owner and partner at Big Fundraising Ideas.